The present invention is directed generally to an adjustable lift truck and, more particularly, to a lift hand truck having several features designed for ease of lifting relatively heavy objects and for quick, efficient transport of relatively heavy objects.
Hand trucks are well known to transport various heavy and bulky items, such as barrels or drums filled with liquid or other materials. Conventional hand trucks include a frame for supporting the item and wheels for rolling the frame across a ground surface. In use, the item is placed on the frame and the hand truck is tilted, allowing items to lean against the frame. The wheels enable the hand truck to be pushed and/or pulled to transport the item. Conventional hand trucks perform quite well for transporting relatively light and symmetrically-shaped articles, such as boxes, packing cases and the like. However, it can be difficult and awkward to load and/or unload relatively heavy or oddly-shaped items onto/from the hand truck. Further, it can be difficult to properly position relatively heavy items on the hand truck prior to transporting the item with the hand truck.
Therefore, it would be desirable to create a hand truck or lift truck that is adjustable in size and/or shape to accommodate items of various size and/or shape. More specifically, it would be desirable to create a lift truck that is substantially stable when loading, unloading and transporting relatively heavy items, yet is adjustable to accommodate items of different sizes and/or shapes. Further, it would be desirable to create a lift truck having several features designed to prevent accidents while loading, unloading or transporting relatively heavy items. Finally, it would be desirable to create a lift truck with a structure that aids a user in placing the lift truck on an elevated bed, such as the bed of a pick-up truck, or removing or lowering the lift truck from the bed. The present invention accomplishes these objectives.